Well, thread comes at an interesting time...
just bought a Star M45, blued.
Its in mediocre shape, pretty worn on the outside,
hardly used on the inside...
Long story short, while sitting at the counter talking
about it with the salesguy, pointed out some of the features
of the Stars while working the deal...then I asked,
"Have you ever seen it taken down?" He said "No",
"It's really easy, quicker than a 1911, wanna see?"
"Sure"
Removed the mag, lined up the marks, popped the pin out.
Slipped the guiderod/recoil spring out, pulled the barrel
out of the slide, and there it was, field stripped in less than 5 secs.
He handed me a shop towel and I cleaned all the old oil & gunk off,
checked out the inside of the barrel & other guts, which were
pretty dirty, like someone had fired 2-3 boxes thru it,
then never cleaned it afterwards...
He then checked the computer for what they had in it,
and cut me a deal which made the pawn shop some money,
and me Happy
Then informed him if he ever got another in, what mags would
also fit it (S&W 45xx series), which mags would fit the M43/40,
which fit the M30 (S&W 59xx series), which fit the M243 (59xx),
and what I'd found out about the Megastar
Got it home, cleaned it up, inspected, function tested with
Snap Caps, now waiting on a good range day to go put it
thru it's paces. The finish is pretty much shot...looks like
it rode in a CC holster a lot, and was cased most of the time.
Gives me a great excuse to try out the local Cerakote guy
Normally I'd just Parkerize it and use it as a second for my
Stainless M45...but something in me is calling out for some
color...maybe Tennessee Vols Orange & White?
Maybe just Camo Blue & Brass for the controls??
Decisions, Decisions...